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Educating the Student Body
Classroom Activity breaks
An emerging strategy for increasing daily participation in physical 
activity in schools is the implementation of structured, classroom-based 
physical activity breaks. Classroom physical activity includes all activity 
regardless of intensity performed in the classroom during normal classroom 
time. It includes activity during academic classroom instruction as well as 
breaks from instruction specifically designed for physical activity. It also 
includes time spent learning special topics (e.g., art, music) even if not 
taught by the usual classroom teacher. It excludes physical education and 
recess even if conducted in the classroom by the usual classroom teacher. 
It also excludes physical activity breaks during lunchtime. Although some 
discussions of schooltime activity breaks include such breaks during 
lunchtime (Turner and Chaloupka, 2012), the committee views lunchtime 
physical activity as more akin to activity during recess and before and after 
school than to physical activity during normal academic classroom time. 
While a number of programs specifically designed to increase the volume 
of students’ physical activity during usual classroom time exist, the com-
mittee found no information about changes in such programs over time at 
the population level.
A typical break consists of 10-15 minutes focused on vigorous- or 
moderate-intensity physical activity. This strategy has been found to be 
effective in significantly increasing physical activity levels of school-age 
children (Ernst and Pangrazi, 1999; Scruggs et al., 2003; Mahar et al., 
2006). Bassett and colleagues (2013) found that classroom activity breaks 
provide school-age children with up to 19 minutes of vigorous- or mod-
erate-intensity physical activity, and the sustained use of such breaks was 
shown to decrease body mass index (BMI) in students over a period of 2 
years (Donnelly et al., 2009). The effectiveness of classroom physical activ-
ity breaks is discussed further in Chapter 7. 
An example of an effective school-based physical activity program is 
Take 10! Kibbe and colleagues (2011) provide consistent evidence that the 
Take 10! program has been effective in increasing physical activity levels 
among a variety of samples of children enrolled in kindergarten through 
5th grade in various countries. Likewise, Mahar and colleagues (2006) 
found that, with the implementation of 10-minute physical activity breaks 
called “Energizers,” students increased their time on task while averaging 
approximately 782 more steps in a day. Another example, supported by the 
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity 
(2012), is Jammin’ Minute, a realistic and effective “bridge” tool for 
increasing children’s physical activity until schools have sufficient resources 
to develop more comprehensive physical education programs. Jammin’ 
Minute has important implications for advocates and policy makers, as well 

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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
Approaches to Physical Activity in Schools
 
267
as administrators and teachers, seeking ways to make school environments 
healthier for children. At the same time, it should be emphasized that, while 
the benefits of small increases in physical activity during the school day 
need to be recognized, the ultimate goal of policy makers and advocates 
should be to ensure that all schools have comprehensive physical education 
programs (see Chapter 5).
Another program, Texas I-CAN!, helped teachers incorporate physical 
activity by modifying lesson plans to include more active activities, thereby 
increasing vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity by 1,000 
steps per day (Bartholomew and Jowers, 2011). It was found that these 
curriculum-based activities improved time on task immediately following 
the breaks, especially in children who were overweight; these students went 
from being on task 58 percent of the time on typical instruction days to 93 
percent of the time after the breaks (Grieco et al., 2009). 
These findings emphasize the effectiveness and feasibility of provid-
ing classroom-based structured opportunities for physical activity. Breaks 
in the classroom provide an additional opportunity for physical activity 
throughout the school day with minimal planning, no equipment, and a 
short amount of time required; they can also incorporate learning opportu-
nities for students. It should be noted that the literature tends to focus on 
the effect of classroom physical activity breaks on elementary school rather 
than secondary school students.
For classroom-based physical activity breaks to become a priority, 
it will be important to provide evidence that such breaks do not detract 
from academic achievement. Chapter 4 provides an extensive review of the 
evidence showing that physical activity in general has positive effects on 
academic performance. With respect to classroom-based physical activity, 
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2010) reviewed 
studies examining the association between such activity and academic 
performance in elementary school–age children. Eight of nine published 
studies found positive effects on such outcomes as academic achievement 
and classroom behavior; only one study found no relationship (Ahamed et 
al., 2007), but that study also found that the breaks did increase physical 
activity levels and did not adversely affect academic achievement. Donnelly 
and Lambourne (2011) provide further support for the link between physi-
cal activity and positive cognitive and academic outcomes in elementary 
school–age children. In addition, studies in elementary school–age children 
have found an increase in on-task behavior in the classroom after partici-
pation in a physical activity break (Jarrett et al., 1998; Mahar et al., 2006; 
Mahar, 2011; see also Chapter 4). For example, Mahar and colleagues 
(2006) found that time on task increased by 8 percent (p < .017) with the 
implementation of a 10-minute break. They also found that the 20 percent 
of students who were off task improved the most in time on task. Similar 

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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
268